


strangers with copper bindings

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bittersweet, Emotional Infidelity, M/M, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo, Past Lando Calrissian/Han Solo, Pining, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Romantic Angst, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 05:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13675152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: They were scoundrels, but they weren’t cheats. Not in matters of love. And Han very much loved Leia even if he’d loved Lando first.





	strangers with copper bindings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prillalar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prillalar/gifts).



> Title from “Seven Hours,” by Little May.

People like Han and Lando, they couldn’t live their lives with regrets. Their past couldn’t haunt them, because if they let it, they wouldn’t be able to function. It happened with all scoundrels at one point or another. It made some folks dangerous and it made other folks callous.

They were lucky, Lando supposed. It just made them better. Not perfect or even particularly good, but better.

Most of the time, Lando wouldn’t trade the life he had for anything. 

This was not most of the time. After all, Lando was no saint and he missed the bastard sauntering toward him.

“She’s looking a bit worse for wear,” Lando said, stepping onto the bridge that connected the landing pad to Cloud City proper. His words he shouted over the perpetual wind and trusted they would be heard by the tired, beloved man who approached with slow, measured steps.

He might have directed that comment toward the _Eravana_ , but it could just as easily have been intended for Han himself.

Han, ever who he’d always been, shrugged and crooked a haphazard smile Lando’s way. Once, that smile meant more than empty, unfair promises that neither of them intended to hold the other to for longer than the length of an ice weekend. Once, that smile had been reserved for Lando alone. Now, it meant things neither of them really wanted to broach. Possibilities of the way things could have been. They never talked about it, but they both saw the easier path that laid before them if one or both of them had just—chosen a different direction.

They were scoundrels, but they weren’t cheats. Not in matters of love. And Han very much loved Leia even if he’d loved Lando first.

Lando knew, though, that Han’s first thought hadn’t been to go to Leia. Not this time. Not any of the prior times either. As far as he knew, they hadn’t spoken in months, if not years. Han never had leveled with him on that score.

“I’ll make sure she’s fueled up,” Lando said, once Han was close enough for normal conversation to ensue. He didn’t point out that Leia would have done him the very same courtesy on D’Qar if only he would ask for the location. This one thing would remain in Lando’s purview as long as he could have it. He justified it to himself by insisting they didn’t need the resource drain a full resupply would entail. “How’s Chewie doing?”

Han rolled one shoulder and looked away. “Got swiped by a rathtar,” he admitted, guilt flashing in a slash across his mouth. “But he’s fine.”

Lando bit back a grimace. He’d hoped Han wouldn’t pick up that job, but the credits were too good a chance to give up. Those credits would keep Han going for months if they had to. He could search for Luke for weeks uninterrupted. As much as Lando hated having rathtars anywhere near his city, he couldn’t bring himself to berate Han for his stupidity.

He’d just have Lobot throw up a few extra energy shields between this and the city’s nearest entrances. Just in case. Maybe a few enforcer droids. If not some security personnel, too.

Lando clasped Han’s shoulder before pulling him into a hug. He wished it could be more and he suspected from the way Han’s fingers tightened around the back of his neck that Han wanted the same.

They’d made such a mess of things, the whole lot of them. Not just Han and Lando, but Luke, too, and Leia, and everyone who’d believed they could just dismantle the Empire and be done with it forever.

“You’ll be gone a while,” Lando said, not quite asking since he knew the answer. His heart throbbed, pained despite knowing that Han didn’t belong to him, he couldn’t stake any claim on him.

“Got a lead on the kid,” Han replied, voice falsely devoid of hope. Lando knew better than to believe Han didn’t hope. At this point, Han survived on hope. “Just gotta drop these kriffing things off and…” His hands made an inconclusive gesture, like he hadn’t quite worked out his plan either. “I’ll try not to be gone as long as I usually am.”

 _You should be telling this to Leia,_ he thought. _Not me_. And yet, he wasn’t exactly displeased, was he, that Han chose to confide in him? Wanted to return here even at the expense of returning to the home he’d picked a long time ago. A mess, like he’d said, and one that wouldn’t be untangled anytime soon. Not unless Han’s errand was less foolish than either of them really believed it was. _I should tell Leia_. “How long are you docked?”

Han huffed a laugh. “Long enough for a game of _klikklak_ and a few drinks.”

Lando squeezed Han’s bicep and gestured back toward the city proper, leading Han toward it. The wind out here was starting to chill Lando down to the bone. “Why don’t we round out the trifecta with some dinner, too?” He added, belated, “Chewie’s welcome, of course.”

Waving haphazardly toward the wrong freighter behind them, Han said, “Chewie’s got some repairs he wants to finish. Probably wouldn’t mind if you had some food sent out if you have it, but I think he’s keeping to himself this time.”

“Of course.” Lando inclined his head and was privately pleased that he would have Han to himself for a few hours despite knowing better. If nothing else, it meant Chewie still trusted the both of them to know what was best. “As though I’d ever not do just that.”

Han’s hand rested on Lando’s chest to stop him. “You’re a good friend, Lando,” he said, and Lando knew what he really meant. It was something neither of them could admit, though they both probably wanted to.

But one day, Leia and Han would reconcile and neither of them would want this to have been more than just a pleasant might-have-been and once-was. Lando might court messes, but he didn’t want to end up one.

There was really only one answer Lando could give to that.

“I know.”


End file.
